


Obey

by HazelBeka



Category: Naruto
Genre: Anbu Yamato | Tenzou, Angst, Discord: Tenzō's Cabin, Found Family, Gen, M/M, Root - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27894892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelBeka/pseuds/HazelBeka
Summary: “He might be young, but there’s a monster inside him who almost destroyed this village,” Danzou said. “Never forget what he is, Cat. One day, you may have to kill that child.”
Relationships: Umino Iruka & Uzumaki Naruto, Umino Iruka/Yamato | Tenzou
Comments: 25
Kudos: 121
Collections: Found Family 60-minutes





	Obey

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RenGoneMad](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenGoneMad/gifts).



**I**

The first time Tenzou laid eyes on Naruto, the boy was six years old and in his first year of the Academy. Danzou led the way to the classroom window where they looked in from the shelter of a nearby tree, unseen by the teacher or the students.

Tenzou had seen pictures before, of course, but he hadn’t known what his role would be in containing the jinchuuriki until that morning when Danzou had finally told him what his purpose was. His one true purpose, his alone, the most important in the village.

The blond boy sat beside the window, staring at his teacher with eyes glazing over, and then he picked up a pencil and started doodling in the margins of his exercise book. Somehow, despite knowing the jinchuuriki was a six-year-old boy, Tenzou hadn’t expected him to look so…normal.

“He might be young, but there’s a monster inside him who almost destroyed this village,” Danzou said. “Never forget what he is, Cat. One day, you may have to kill that child.”

It would be a shame to kill a child, Tenzou thought, but he didn’t think much more than that. Not yet.

  


* * *

  


After he’d seen the child once, Danzou told him to stay away. It wouldn’t do to humanise the monster; better to keep his distance until the fatal day came. Yet Tenzou’s ANBU patrols took him past the Academy building and now that he knew which classroom Naruto sat in, he couldn’t help but glance through the glass each time.

One Thursday afternoon, when the patrol timetable changed and took him past the school later, he saw children walking home through the streets and thought he’d missed his chance. He kept his eyes on the groups of children, chattering and running with all the pent-up energy of the day, but he didn’t spot that familiar blond head among them. He wasn’t so obsessed that he’d go out of his way to stop and search, so he carried on past the school as usual, and as was his habit, although he knew that class was over, he couldn’t help but glance through the window as he passed.

The classroom wasn’t empty. The teacher – whose name Tenzou still hadn’t learnt – was wiping the chalkboard clean, and a single student was sitting at a desk, fidgeting with his eraser. His teacher looked round and caught him trying to bounce the eraser across the desk.

“The sooner you finish your homework, the sooner you can leave,” the teacher said.

Tenzou had never really looked at him before, always too busy watching Naruto, but now he properly took him in. He was younger than Tenzou had expected, long hair pulled back in a ponytail from which strands were coming loose and framing his face. There was a scar across the bridge of his nose, but instead of marring his features it enhanced them, drew attention to the expressive dark eyes above.

“But Iruka-sensei, it’s hard,” Naruto whined.

“Everyone else handed it in on time.”

“They’ve all got parents to help them!”

There was a flicker in Iruka’s eyes. Something hard and cold, and Naruto must have seen it too because he scowled down at the sheet of paper on his desk.

“Not all of them,” Iruka said. “If you’ve been paying attention in class then you won’t need help. Get on with it.”

He returned to the desk, opening a drawer to take out a stack of papers. Tenzou found himself watching, for no other reason than that the teacher had a pretty face.

Iruka withdrew the papers then paused. Tenzou tried to spy from his spot in the tree what had caught his attention, but couldn’t make it out until Iruka reached slowly into the desk and withdrew a knife. The sharp edge glittered in the afternoon sunlight.

Naruto’s head was bent over his work, and he didn’t see the way Iruka looked at him: with consideration. With something that might have been anger or might have been pain. His fingers tightened around the knife, and Tenzou wondered if he ought to stop this from happening or if he should leave now so as not to leave a witness.

“Iruka-sensei,” Naruto said, not looking up, “will _you_ help me?”

Iruka hesitated, the knife lowering an inch.

“What?”

“All the other kids have family to help them, but I don’t,” Naruto said. “So will you help me instead?”

Iruka’s hand wavered, his lips parted, unsure. And then he laid the knife back down in the drawer and closed it.

“I guess I can this time,” he said.

**II**

In hindsight, Tenzou wasn’t sure why he’d bothered to approach Danzou with a question about his past. He wasn’t sure what had got him thinking about it – maybe seeing the children at the Academy, seeing their parents and older siblings coming by to pick them up after class day after day. He’d always known he wasn’t like them, had never been like the other children his age when he’d arrived in Konoha. He’d never attended a single day at the Academy, trained in private to keep his stolen bloodline limit secret. He was a child who should never have been and there was no place carved out in the world for him.

“Well?” Danzou asked, busy at his desk when Tenzou stepped into his office. “Do you have something to report?”

“No, sir. I have a question.”

Danzou glanced up and then waved a hand for him to carry on, looking back down at the mission reports he was reading.

“It’s about my past. About…before the lab. Where I came from.”

“You were abducted from one of the civilian villages,” Danzou said distractedly. “You already know that.”

“But I was wondering…when you went through the lab after you rescued me, did you find anything about where I came from? About who my parents might be?”

Danzou sighed and put the report down. “No,” he said. “There was nothing like that. Plenty of data on your vitals, but not even a name. You don’t need a past, Cat. You have a future, thanks to Konoha. Isn’t that enough?”

It had taken all of Tenzou’s courage to come here and ask in the first place; he didn’t have enough left to push.

“Of course it is,” he said, looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that I’d rather be anywhere else.”

“There are plenty of shinobi without families,” Danzou said. “You’re just one among many, especially among Root. Think of us as your family if you need to. We’re all the family you need. I’ve taken care of you, haven’t I?”

“Yes,” Tenzou said, but he thought back to the families he saw in the village, the way they laughed with each other, smiled, joked around.

Danzou had never smiled at him even once.

  


* * *

  


There was another change in the ANBU scheduling and Tenzou found himself pulled off patrols and assigned to Sandaime’s guard. Maybe it was for the best that he wouldn’t see Naruto anymore. He’d been thinking a lot about the child recently, and his thoughts weren’t ones that Danzou would approve of. Tenzou committed his first rebellious act by keeping his doubts a secret.

He was surprised in his first week on guard duty to hear a familiar voice. Umino Iruka, Naruto’s teacher, arrived at the Hokage Tower and was invited warmly into Sandaime’s office for tea and gossip. Tenzou was sent to make the tea.

Iruka showed no recognition when Tenzou set the tea tray down between the two men, but he gave Tenzou a little smile of thanks. It made Tenzou’s stomach give a little nervous flip. It was his job to watch the comings and goings in Konoha, but he felt bad suddenly for having watched Iruka so many times without his knowledge. It didn’t help that Iruka’s smile was surprisingly soft considering how strict he could be with his students. Tenzou had seen him angry and he’d seen him frustrated, he’d seen him enthusiastic and he’d seen him focused, but never relaxed. Never simply content. It suited him.

Tenzou remained in the room, lingering by the door. Danzou had instructed him to listen in to all the hokage’s conversations and report back anything of interest, so he wasn’t in the habit of letting his mind wander, but today he found himself especially interested, although there were no political matters being discussed. Only friendly chatter. It was both confusing to see the hokage this way and somehow refreshing to know that even he was human.

Tenzou’s interest really picked up when the conversation turned to Naruto.

“He’s struggling in school because he doesn’t have anyone to help him at home,” Iruka said.

“He has no surviving family,” Sandaime said. “We’ve discussed the possibility of a clan adopting him, but of course you can imagine the political ramifications. What would you have me do?”

Iruka had been staring down at his teacup but now he looked up.

“Let me take care of him.”

Sandaime frowned and leaned a little further across the desk.

“He killed your parents.”

“No.” And there was the fierceness Tenzou had come to know from afar. “No, he didn’t. I thought when he first joined my class that I wouldn’t be able to separate the boy from the monster, but I can, hokage-sama. Naruto is just a boy. He has fears and dreams and he wants so badly to do well but he just can’t. No one’s looking after him. Of course he can’t do his best in those circumstances. He needs someone to take him in.”

Sandaime sat back and sighed softly. “That’s very generous of you. I’ve always known you had a big heart, Iruka, but not many people would be able to forgive him like this.”

“So you’ll let me take care of him? My apartment isn’t big but we can manage.”

Sandaime held up a hand to stop him. “I’m sorry, Iruka. I appreciate your offer but I can’t allow it.”

Iruka’s dismay was clear on his face. “But why?”

“Politics,” Sandaime said flatly. “He’s both the most hated person and the most powerful asset in this village. Can you imagine what the clans would say if he was raised by…” He trailed off, but his meaning was clear. Iruka was a teacher, a chuunin, no one of importance. Not worthy of being the guardian of the kyuubi, even if no one else wanted him.

Iruka stood up, knocking the desk with his hip. The teacups rattled in their saucers.

“I have to be going,” he said abruptly, barely holding back his anger. “Thank you for the tea, hokage-sama.”

It was the first time Tenzou had ever seen someone walk out on the hokage.

**III**

Iruka may not have got his way, but over the next six months Tenzou observed him around the village, often with Naruto in tow. They spent more time together after school, mostly in the classroom but on nice days outside sitting on the grass and going over Naruto’s homework together. Extra tutoring sessions, they called it, but it was more than that. Even Tenzou, who had never, he was coming to realise, been truly cared for by another person, could see that Iruka felt more for the boy than simple teacherly concern. They reminded Tenzou of the families he’d watch sometimes when he felt loneliest.

He didn’t report these observations to Danzou, yet someone else must have noticed too because one winter day Danzou summoned him to his office and gave him a mission. For the first time, Tenzou was glad of his mask because he let his expression slip when he heard the order.

“Umino Iruka is becoming a dangerous influence,” Danzou said. “He’s close to the hokage and now he’s worming his way closer to the jinchuuriki as well. I don’t know what his game is, but he’s clearly becoming a danger to the village. I need you to remove this thorn from my side.”

Tenzou’s whole body tensed. “You want me to kill him?”

“Make it look like an accident,” Danzou said. He was already turning away, the problem dealt with in his mind as soon as the order had been spoken.

“But he’s just a teacher! He isn’t causing any harm.”

Danzou turned back to him in surprise. “It’s not your place to question my orders. Your loyalty lies with the village, and to me above all. You’re my weapon, and weapons do not choose who they strike. Do you understand me?”

Tenzou understood all too well.

  


* * *

  


The sun had set by the time Tenzou arrived at Iruka’s apartment building, although it was still early in the evening. This was the time of day when Iruka should arrive home from school, tired and off his guard. Tenzou had already considered how best to make it past his wards, had decided it would be better to simply knock on the door and ask to come inside. Iruka was nothing if not polite. He would invite Tenzou in and when Tenzou left, he’d be dead.

Tenzou didn’t want to do this. He liked Iruka. He wished he’d been able to speak to him even once before this terrible night, but he’d been given his orders and he had no choice but to obey.

He scoped out Iruka’s flat from the roof of the next building, waiting for the lights to come on as Iruka arrived home. Eventually they did, and Tenzou’s heart sank as the countdown started on the rest of Iruka’s life.

The light in the spare room switched on and Iruka entered. He was talking, although Tenzou couldn’t hear what he was saying. A visitor at this time was unusual. And, come to think of it, the décor in this room had changed since the last time Tenzou had been here, learning Iruka’s habits as he prepared for his death. Instead of the desk and bookcases, there was now a single bed and the walls had been painted blue. Tenzou frowned, but then Iruka moved aside and a second figure stepped past him, and Tenzou understood.

Naruto stood in the centre of the bedroom, staring silently around himself in awe. He didn’t say a word, simply looked at the bed with its brightly coloured sheets, and then turned and looked up at Iruka, who was waiting nervously for a reaction.

Then Naruto flung himself into Iruka’s arms with such force that Iruka took half a step back. Tenzou saw clearly the relief on his face and then the joy as he wrapped his arms around Naruto and hugged him tight.

The hokage had not changed his mind, Tenzou was sure about that. He’d have heard. Danzou would have heard. No, Iruka had chosen to ignore orders and bring Naruto into his home regardless. He had done what he thought was right, and the shit show that would come down on him tomorrow would be unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He must know this, and yet his fate didn’t seem to bother him.

Tenzou watched for a while through the window. Even when the lights turned out, he stayed for a long time in the darkness. And then, for the first time in his life, he made a choice that was purely his own. He turned and left, mission abandoned, and determined that he would come back the next day, not to kill Iruka, but to protect him and Naruto, even if they never knew he was there.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for the [Tenzou's Cabin discord server](https://tenzoscabin.tumblr.com/) 60 mins to gift exchange! I can't believe I wrote this much in an hour - my fingers have never flown across a keyboard so quickly!
> 
> Ren, thank you for your prompts, I went with 'Chosen' though I guess this also fits into 'Beginnings' as Naruto and Iruka are starting their life as a family and Tenzou is starting to realise he's an individual <3 I may write a follow up to this where Tenzou actually approaches Iruka and, you know, speaks to him or something lol. I want him to join their found family too <3 That's definitely how I imagine this progressing.


End file.
